We stopped at a rest stop for lunch on the way home from our Ohio and Kentucky. Turns out, some Tennessee rest stops include their own adventures.
And beautiful views.
This was a wonderful trip for our family full of lots of learning and some pretty unforgettable adventures!
The Ark Encounter is not anything that I can really post and share a few family pictures and expect you to really experience it. It is a true personal experience that you really can grasp the enormity of unless you are actually there. Ya’ll, there are just no words to describe how amazing it is.
I’ll do my best to share some highlights from our trip to the Ark. We got there before just before it opened and our achy feet and tired kiddos were ready to head home by around 4. But, in the time, we managed to see and read as much as we could.
The woodwork and craftsmanship was just astounding. I believe over 200 Amish craftsman had a part in this and their amazing art and talent definitely shown through.
This was a great infographic that laid out the plausible way the ark could have held “all” the animals and 8 people. I can’t imagine the amount of research that went in to this.
Taking a quick break on a wooden beam!
The door to the ark. Just one example of how Christ is the only door to Heaven.
After exploring all day, ya gotta take a break. Ya’ll Bryant just went and sprawled out like this.
There is a small petting zoo on sight and the highlight for our whole family were the goats. They were so sweet and we all enjoyed petting them all.
This girl was a trooper through the whole trip and by the end of it, I realized I could turn the back seat of our double stroller around and she could easily climb in and out. This saved my back from a thousand pick up and put downs and she loved talking to mommy when she wasn’t knocked out cold.
This was our third trip to the Creation Museum and it was just as good. T
The last time we were there, we had a miscommunication with Ace and he missed out on ziplining. We made sure to get him in to this trip. He had a blast.
The petting zoo…of course, was a big hit.
Emmie loved the duck which they all named Cucumber. She would squeal each time he gave her a little nibble on her hand. 
And there were chickens! She really wanted to give them hugs but they weren’t having any of it.
Ceili Rain and Emmie each choose a fox for their souvenirs!
Quick picture before we head to our next great adventure…the Ark.
We sat through a lot of sessions and all of us learned a lot.
And also got some silly pictures in.
The treat was hearing Andrew Peterson sing on Thursday evening and hearing him speak on Friday morning.
The most we saw of Cincinnati was the rooftops of several beautiful buildings near the parking deck.
The kids were thrilled to meet some new authors but also one that was familiar to us. S. D. Smith wrote a book about rabbits with swords. I grabbed it up for free on the kindle, read it to the kids aloud, and we were hooked. We highly recommend The Green Ember and the whole series! Seriously…rabbits…swords…who could lose.
After looking at the cost of hotel rooms in and around Cincinnati for our larger than normal family, we decided to look in to renting a house. We went through Deborah’s Guesthouses. It was an absolute score! The price was much less than two hotel rooms. We were five minutes from the Creation Museum and the little area we were in was nice, quiet and near a park!
I’ve mentioned before how we decided for Christmas this past year to give the kids an experience rather than a bunch of gifts…because ya’ll, our house is covered in stuff.
Well, the experience included a trip to a home school convention in Cincinnati to hear and hopefully meet our favorite author and singer, Andrew Peterson, a trip to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. We made our trek in April.
About a month before the trip, we had a family movie night and stumbled upon a cute little movie on Pureflix called Little Ponderosa Zoo. We soon learned that the Little Ponderosa Zoo wasn’t just a movie but an actual place and it happened to be “pretty close” to our route to Cincinnati. Since I needed to get out every two hours, we decided to include this little zoo in our trip.
Ya’ll, it was the best decision. A perfect break during a long road trip and an opportunity to see some pretty neat animals up close and personal…and feed them! It’s a wildlife sanctuary and most of the exotic animals were “pets” before the owners realized they were actually real wild animals.
If you are ever in the middle of Nowhere Tennessee and want to get out of the car and rest for a couple of hours. Little Ponderoas Zoo is THE place to go!
Rabbits! Ready and willing to be loved on.
We walked out of the barn and Emmie saw all the goats. She ran up to them and began proclaiming, “I wuv you! And I wuv you! And I wuv you!” She was in heaven.
Liam and Silas were super excited to feed the ponies.
We fed kangaroos too!
My super excited treat was seeing a little rescued monkey as everyone was leaving. He was very curious about all of us and played peek-a-boo with me, running away from me and then eventually getting a little closer as I continued to talk to him. And then, oh my, then he looked at me and gave the biggest grin. I flipped out. And no one was there to witness it or get it on camera! Most of the monkeys are generally from abusive or neglected situations. This one, was just absolutely adorable!
March 30th brought a big Emmie Anniversary. It was a year ago March 30th that Emmie had her halo removed. We celebrated with our traditional cookie cake! It’s still so amazing to look back and see how far God has brought her in her NF journey already.
April 27th brought another anniversary. It’s been two years since Emmie had her first ever surgery (and the first surgery for any of our kids). I can’t believe it’s been two years since our NF journey became so much more than a mild case. But, we are so grateful that it has been two years watching her grow and get stronger as each day passes.
Once again…a cookie cake (that I whistfully changed from a three to a two).
Today we had our ultrasound for our little #10. We were all pretty excited. However, I have to admit I was little nervous. We have been blessed with a great pregnancy, but I still get a little apprehensive.
Anyway, baby is doing wonderful. Wiggles, kicks, punches and general busyness of being in the womb is always so exciting to see.
At first, we didn’t think baby would cooperate because the arms went straight to the front as the tech tried to go to the most important part. In the end, she was sneakier than baby!
Yep! Our 7th boy is on the way!
Internet World meet Tobin Asher!
We had our girl’s name chosen for a long time but deciding on what name God had for a little boy proved to take us a little while. Then we stumbled upon Tobin. Tobin means “God is good.” Asher means “Blessed.” We pray our Tobin Asher grows to understand how good our God is and how blessed not only we are that he is a part of our family but how blessed he is by God’s love.
We’re all getting excited about seeing our little man and getting those sweet baby snuggles in!
Our cute and silly in March.
This girl! 
And this young lady!
A very happy Chi!
Super Ems and her brace with her baby and baby’s new brace.
Emmie loved sliding with Ace.
And playing squeeze in the cubbies!
I missed PJ day at Bruster’s but the kids and Mark carried on the tradition.
Zoe was accepted into the Foreign Language Honor Society for excellent work in Spanish 1 and 2 (I did not include all of her other languages on duolingo, mango and memrise).
I managed to eek out two pies for pie day….first trimester struck but I pushed through.
Someone became toofless in March.
Emmie learned that silly faces are fun to make in windows.
The boys busied themselves during American Heritage Girl meetings.
Ceili Rain hit the big ol’ eight years old.
Her birthday was on a Sunday which means, I completely forgot to get a picture of her cake (we took it to church to celebrate). She chose a chocolate cake with chocolate chip mint icing. It’s safe to say that this first trimester had me off my game in the birthday cake department. But, I’m told the cake was super tasty.
When Malachi got his birthday gift from us, Ceili Rain found one and asked if she could do that for her birthday.
On her actual birthday, she got one something from us and a little something from her cousins.
And brothers with boxes on their heads have to be in the pictures.
Papa and Grandmere got to celebrate the day before her birthday.
Later in the month, she got to celebrate with Ge and Granddaddy.
Because I felt so bad, I never posted on Facebook about how awesome our second girl is. We are so glad God chose to give us this girl. She is a true celebration of Him! She loves her siblings but knows how to defend herself. She is the resident first aid responder and takes her job of finding and applying bandages very seriously. I can not wait to see what the Lord is going to do in her life.
